The Elitist: The Day Vince McMahon Started His Own Competition

Posted on June 1, 2021 by bdamage1

Brian Damage

It isn’t an uncommon thing for the sports entertainment juggernaut known as World Wrestling Entertainment to “clean up” their roster from time to time. In doing so, several wrestlers, announcers, referees and backstage personnel are handed their release from the company. Some times it is due to “budgetary cuts” and other times simply because the company has nothing for them creatively. When these cuts come, some times we understand it and other times we just scratch our heads and wonder aloud….”How could WWE be so foolish?” This was the case on May 22nd, 2016. That was the day WWE released second generation star Cody Rhodes.

Cody Rhodes had the looks, the skills and the pedigree to become a huge star in professional wrestling. The youngest son of the ‘American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes…..Cody seemed destined for greatness. He was trained and first developed in WWE’s developmental territory OVW. He was eventually called up to the main roster and after initially getting a solid push, he seemed to stagnate. While with WWE, at times it seemed that Cody Rhodes was directionless and/or misused. His pushes would start, then stop only to restart again.

He held tag team and Intercontinental gold during his WWE tenure, but it seemed that he wasn’t allowed to get to that next level. He was used as an upper mid carder at best and that is where he stayed. Cody and his fans started to become frustrated with his lack of progression within the promotion. The final straw seemed to be when WWE creative gave Cody the gimmick of ‘Stardust.’ The Stardust character seemed to be a lazy attempt to saddle Cody with something….anything. All it was, was a gimmick extremely similar to his brother Dustin’s Goldust persona.

Despite the glaring similarities, Cody accepted the gimmick and tried to make Stardust into his own. He formed a small faction with the tag team Ascension, but that really went nowhere. Ultimately, frustration got the best of Cody and he made the decision to to ask for his WWE release. A request that was initially denied, but eventually was granted on May 22nd, 2016. On that date, Cody was free to go anywhere he pleased as a free agent.

It seemed like both a bold and dangerous move considering that in 2016…there wasn’t much competition to go to aside from WWE. There was Ring of Honor, TNA stateside and the rest were smaller independent groups. Nothing at the size and scale of WWE. That didn’t seem to bother Cody in the least, as he was his own man now and could pick and choose who he wanted to wrestle and where. He formulated a list of wrestlers he wanted to compete against and things he wanted to accomplish as a part of his bucket list.

Cody did what he wanted and controlled his own destiny as a performer. He was seen wrestling on various indie shows and made appearances for several organizations including TNA, GFW, Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Cody was building up his resume by winning various titles and making non WWE money along the way. It was in New Japan where Cody formed a friendship with the Young Bucks that would pay dividends.

They partnered together in New Japan as the “Elite” of the Bullet Club, but also partnered together in business to create one of the most successful independent shows of all time called ‘All In.’ Tickets for this non WWE promoted event sold out in minutes and showed disgruntled wrestling fans that a big event could take place without WWE’s interference. The All In event certainly got the attention of WWE, who reportedly offered Cody and the Young Bucks WWE contracts. Cody was given the opportunity to return to the place that he once voluntarily left a bigger star than before. Except, he and the Bucks turned down the supposedly lucrative offer.

A few months later, Cody was seen hanging out with the owners of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars…the Khan family. Rumors and speculation was that a partnership was forming to start a brand new wrestling promotion to compete with WWE. After months of denials and silence, the rumors turned out to be true and on January 1st, 2019….it was announced that All Elite Wrestling was born.

Cody Rhodes teamed up with the Young Bucks and billionaire Tony Khan to launch All Elite Wrestling. Rhodes was named the Executive Vice President of AEW and the new promotion brought in a plethora of underutilized independent talent. In addition, it was announced that longtime WWE wrestler Chris Jericho was joining AEW as well. AEW was able to secure a strong television deal with the former network of WCW in TNT.

The company has had its fair share of hits and misses. There have been plenty of stumbling blocks in their way. It still remains to be seen if AEW will ever truly compete with WWE. What is for sure, is that Cody and company created a solid alternative to WWE. A place where wrestlers can go and make money with great exposure. AEW may not be for every fan, but it is a legitimate option for those no longer content with WWE’s product. This all began a few years ago, when WWE made the decision to let Cody Rhodes walk away.